Position : 28°07'7 N , 015°25'•5 W , 14:00 UTC
Dear Reader,
I fully understand that you have been waiting for an update on Atlantic Adventures. The reason for quite a long brake of communication is however quickly explicable.
The boat was in Madeira for 4 weeks, and not moving. To cross the Atlantic , you have a certain time window to wait for, which starts at the beginning of November. By that time the Hurricane Season in the Caribbean should be over, and boats start to travel across the Atlantic. This year we will be joining the ARC 2012 , the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, with roughly 250 boats joining. and it will start on the 25th of November. At the same time one needs to get out of the Mediterranean by say the end of September, beginning of October, otherwise bad weather like strong westerly winds will make a passage to Gran Canaria from say Gibraltar almost impossible, or at least say very very unpleasant. So that is one reason why we left Gibraltar, but stayed in Madeira.
However, during our stay of roughly 4 weeks , this island faced one of its worst autumns since records were taken. We had not only rain, but torrential rain, and not wind, but storms almost every day. Guys, climate change or not, all I can say is that the weather and its patterns is changing. Regardless where you are. On Madeira it led to landslides, fallen trees and the closure of the airport, in Venice in led to the 6th highest Acqua Alta ( Highwater ) since records, and Hurricane Sandy in the western Atlantic moving north !!!!!!, meaning moving into cold water, and still not loosing its power. I am sure you have seen it on the news.
But it is not only the weather, it is nature as a whole that is changing as a consequence. I was told in Madeira that in the past Tuna was caught by local fishermen maximum north of Madeira, now they can go as far north as the Azores. Not only that, as the water gets warmer, new fish species are being caught as well in these waters, which were previously more part of the South Atlantic. The migration of birds is changing too, and it goes on and on and on.
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